1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to text messaging. Specifically, the present invention relates to the real time billing process for text messaging over mobile networks.
2. Background of the Invention
Wireless messaging is fast becoming a primary mode of communication between users. The increasing popularity and social acceptance of text messaging over mobile telephones has resulted in many other uses for such messaging, such as text message voting, e.g. for reality television shows. However, large volumes of time-sensitive text messages are often processed before they are billed for, especially for pre-paid subscribers. In some cases subscribers do not have sufficient funds in their pre-paid accounts to pay for the text messages being sent. If these text messages are not billed for, there is a loss of revenue for the mobile operator or service provider. Additionally, some subscribers impose a Smart-Limit (SL) on their usage. During spikes in usage, text messages may be submitted, processed, and delivered before the billing server (or similar server) has an opportunity to impose the smart limit. This results in higher than expected bills for the customer, thus lower customer satisfaction. What is needed is a more efficient system or method capable of handling large volumes of real time billing requests, including prepaid and SL, in real or close to real time.
Wireless text messaging is a huge market with tremendous revenues. Globally, the volume of text messages sent from mobile phones is worth around US$80 billion per year, and continues to grow especially in developing countries and for premium-rate services. The ubiquity of text messaging allows it to be used for a plethora of activities, receiving news, purchasing items, and getting involved in TV and radio entertainment. One example of the latter is the enormous success of reality TV programs, like American Idol or Big Brother, that combine live action with interactive texting from viewers to determine the outcome. The final of the 2005 UK edition of Big Brother generated some 6.4 million texts in a single night, at a premium rate of 50 p each, generating revenues of £3.2 million (US$ 5.9 million), to be split between the production company, the broadcaster, and the mobile service provider. Additionally, there is increasing popularity in TV programs that encourage feedback from viewers in the form of text messages. Viewers may vote for certain characters being eliminated from a TV show, or may vote for the show to take a certain direction when there is a fork in the storyline. Subscribers are willing to pay for these interactive services and thus there is potential for large amounts of revenue from offering diverse text-messaging services.
However, there are certain limitations in the existing text messaging infrastructure that prevent service providers from collecting this tremendous revenue. In a real-time prepaid messaging infrastructure today, a prepaid billing request is sent to a billing system, or a mediation gateway, for billing processing before the message is delivered by the messaging server. Sometimes the messaging server fails to receive a response for the billing request from the billing system in a timely matter. This could happen for a number of reasons including but not limited to long latency processing billing request, a billing request timeout due to overload on the billing server, etc. In this case, the prepaid billing request is logged into a file for later processing, or post-processing. The message is still delivered by the messaging infrastructure, and the billing requests in the log file are processed at regular intervals, perhaps daily or similar.
This separate process is called “late billing”, and it has several drawbacks. For one, it happens too infrequently, for instance, one to two times per day. Consequently, many logged prepaid billing requests are processed too long after the message has been delivered. This does not come even remotely close to real-time billing. Additionally, there is a big risk for revenue loss when it is determined later during a late-billing process that a prepaid subscriber's account is lacking funds. The message is delivered but the revenue from this process is lost. This also applies to Smart Limits (SL) and other similar future prepaid-like messaging services where time restriction or billing processing must be handled in real time before a message can be delivered by the messaging server.
One specific example of this loss in revenue is exemplified by the trend of voting via messaging or Short Message Service (SMS). In the present SMS infrastructure, SMS voting is handled and operated individually by SMS voting complexes, similar to a Short Message Service Center (SMSC) but dedicated to SMS voting. During peak voting periods such as for TV audiences, the billing process for prepaid messaging and restriction checking for Smart Limit (SL) messaging is unable to keep up with the volume of messages being processed. For prepaid subscribers, the votes get delivered but the related billing requests are not processed until a later time via the late billing process. Thus, it is possible that prepaid subscribers get free text message votes when their accounts may be empty. In addition to reduced efficacy of the process, this causes revenue loss for the service provider.
Also, for SL messaging users, when the message is late-billed, the message is delivered before the smart-limit restriction is checked. Some postpaid subscribers invoke SL, which involves time restrictions checking on the messages for both the sender and receiver before they are delivered. Subscribers usually purchase this as part of family plans to limit the number of messages that are sent or received uncontrollably. When a SMS from a SL subscriber's device is late-billed, or post-processed, the SMS is delivered regardless of the restrictions set by the subscriber. This results in larger-than-expected bills for the owner of the account, and overall reduction in customer satisfaction.
Thus, as more applications for text messaging gain popularity such as voting, etc., and there is increased government recognition and potential usage for election purposes, there is a growing need for a more robust and reliable real-time billing mechanism for high-volume usage. What is needed is a method or system that efficiently processes a realtime billing request from a message with minimal dependence on the late billing process, or at least more efficient and smarter recognition and processing of billing requests associated with high-volume and time-sensitive messages.